Zoo Animals, Again!

There has been a lot of talk of zoo animals, zoos, and the public's safety lately. I'm going to address the issue again. Remember these are my opinions and not straight out facts. There are many dangers at the zoo. Many of which as a visitor, we may not see. Ultimately, they don't concern us because those dangers are kept behind glass or moats. They are not a part of our everyday lives. Unless, you visit the zoo every day or you love animals like I do. You may not totally realize all the possible dangers. Luckily the majority of us will never be attacked by a wild animal at least not the ones at the zoo. Next time you visit zoo look at the all the warning signs and the safety nets. You might even be safer at the zoo then at your own home. I know you're thinking well people have died at the zoo, so they can't be all that safe, well I say rubbish. For the most part, you have be smart and obey the rules.

It goes without saying that you have to obey rules when you go any where. After all you have to be a certain height to ride the attractions at Six Flags. You don't feed the bears at Yellowstone. Well, when you visit the zoo, you don't cross barriers. Those barriers are in place to protect you. It doesn't always work as there have been escapes, and a few fool hardy people who have crossed barriers. For the most part when people have been attacked at the zoo it's been because of mistakes. Not saying all zoo attacks come about from an accident or deliberate disobedience to the zoo rules. Still, they do happen. Often these attack result in injuries and death. The truth is animals do escape. I've had it happen to me. It happened while giving a presentation. Granted no one was hurt not even a little, even the animal remained unharmed. I've also come to the understanding that animals do what they want to do. Many times, they chose to do it while I'm wanting them to do something else. Animals are ruled by instinct.

Instinct, it rules almost every behavior that we see in animals. Everything from mating to feeding is all done on instinct. Feeding behaviors can even be triggered by our reactions. For instance, if you face off with a mountain lion, and you start running, you are triggering a predatory response. If you tap or mess with a spider web in a way that vibrates the web, you're triggering that spider's predatory response. Animals play by different rules then we do. For instance, if you want to attract someone's attention you might stare into their eyes. Do that to a gorilla and you might get attacked. Animals will defend themselves. If an animal feels threatened, it's going to attack. It's going to keep itself from being hurt. Sometimes, we get the rough end of it. Zoos are not are playgrounds.

Zoos have evolved even from the time, that I was a kid. Zoos originally were set up to allow people to see exotic animals without the need for going on safari. Even today, we go to zoos to see these beautiful animals from far off lands, however the public doesn't always see the work that zoos do. Zoos breed endangered species. In order to this job, we have to know the exact temperature, humidity, light, chemicals, food availability, or whatever it is that might lead to breeding. Every birth at a zoo is a important. Zoos breed their animals with the hope of returning them to the wild. For every species, this may never be possible, but it doesn't keep us from dreaming. Consider this, the L.A. Zoo just had three baby Sumatran tiger cubs born, there are only around 400 in the wild, and 70 of these cats are in North American zoos. The Palm Beach Zoo even had a birth of red ruffed lemurs, triplets to be exact, with around 1,000 left in the wild. Each birth is important. It keeps extinction at bay. Zoos have to do research to find out exact conditions that animals need to be healthy. Many zoos such as the Bronx zoo and other zoos are involved in conservation. Their focus is on the animals and on our safety.

Accidents do happen even at zoos. They aren't perfect. If you think about it though, people die all the time. How often does an attack happen at a zoo? How often does an innocent person get killed driving their car, because of someone else was impaired. I'm sorry to those who have been hurt or lost loved one's in an attack. Any way, maybe I haven't said what I wanted to say in this article but hopefully, I've given you something to think about. Talk to you later!

Charles Out!